Lower taxes, cheaper durables, education sops make a perfect recipe
The finance minister has been quite charitable to the common man this time. As an ordinary middle class salaried person, you will pay lower taxes, spend somewhat lesser on most of your regular items and earn a better return on your investments.
Most consumer goods of daily use will cost almost the same, while consumer durables such as air-conditioners, white goods and cars will become cheaper. But you will have to spend a bit more on transport as petrol and diesel will be a trifle more expensive because of an additional cess.
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Not immediately, but soon you can look forward to travelling on better roads, get set to enjoy the luxury of some sports complex which may come up near your house very soon. You may also soon see more hospitals being set up, even as the existing ones would now offer you state-of-the-art medical equipment more quickly than even before.
Contrary to the general trend, there are no changes in the income-tax rates this year, but the hike in the standard deduction and the elimination of surcharge for individuals will mean that you will end up paying lesser taxes. For taxpayers in the higher income tax bracket (above Rs 8.5 lakh), however, the tax incidence will work out marginally higher since the surcharge has been doubled to 10 per cent.
For the middle class parents, there is now more incentive to spend more on children